


Don’t Give Up On Me - Percival Graves

by Sherrykinss



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Feels, F/M, Heavy Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:08:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24374791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sherrykinss/pseuds/Sherrykinss
Summary: After Percival went missing. How does he cope?
Relationships: Original Percival Graves/Reader
Kudos: 21





	Don’t Give Up On Me - Percival Graves

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sleepy af right now, but I had this idea and this writing itch for the past 2 days. I know I haven’t written anything in such a long time and I’m popping up at the most random time. But let me confess how fucking rusty my writing is, but I couldn’t get this feeling and this itch out. So I wrote it. It’s a fucking mess. But like… I still hope you enjoy it. XD
> 
> Side note: SO late, but Graves is really doing it for me. He fuckedddd me up.

A man of action, that’s the reputation Percival Graves lived by. He was a man with very little words. Instead, his actions did all the talking. There’s no doubt, he’s made plenty of people talk in the wizarding world. He was a man with an exemplary reputation that summed up ambitions. A man that lived up to his prestigious family name.

She was his partner in crime. She was a close friend, his only confidant. They’ve known each other for years, and worked together for years. They were the perfect team. She was the only one that kept up with his ambition and passion. She was the opposite of him. She was so filled with words and emotions. She filled what he lacked. It’s a wonder how they ever became so close.

Despite the gossip and suspicion from everyone else, nothing ever developed between them. That isn’t to say that they didn’t have this unspoken attraction towards each other. They simply didn’t have a relationship where they talked about their feelings for each other.

She prided on the fact that she could predict his next moves without a single word spoken by him. If he was having a rough day, she would have a glass of his favorite liquor ready for him. If she was having a rough day, he would indulge her with a nice meal. He wasn’t much for talking, but he was a great listener. If she needed, he would let her rant and get everything off her chest. Anyone who knew Graves, knew him to only make compromises for her.

Somewhere along the line, there was a shift between their relationship. It happened out of the blue. At first, it started with him spending late hours being out. He claimed to be investigating, but he typically spent late hours catching up with paperwork in his office. She brushed it aside. He would purposely avoid her, ignore her persistent questions. She thought his sudden change in behavior was something she did, or perhaps he discovered her feelings for him. It was a fear that plagued her many times, one that held her back from ever confessing. She knew it would affect the dynamic of their relationship. When it became clear that he was shutting her out, she confronted him about it. However, her suspicions only made him push her away and she let him.

When it was revealed by Newt Scamander that Percival Graves was actually Grindelwald in disguise, she was riddled with guilt. She was filled with anger more for herself than the man who impersonated him. She blamed it all on herself. She felt guilty for being so self-absorbed. If she wasn’t so clouded by the fear of losing him, she wouldn’t have ignored his coldness towards her. She wouldn’t have chalked it all up stress and work and made countless excuses for him. She let their relationship drift so apart that she feared if she confronted him, their friendship would cease to continue. She didn’t want to risk it, so she tiptoed around him.

Once Grindelwald was arrested, she gathered a crowd of aurors to help her search for Percival. She searched all day and night with no sleep. She wasn’t going to rest until she found him. Dead or alive. Her heart cracked with each passing day without any sight of him and every dead end. She thought the pain would disappear once he is found, but she was so wrong.

“We found him!” An auror cried out from a distance.

She instantly followed the auror leading her and the rest to Percival. Instead of relief when they reached the location, she felt her heart break in anguish. The wizards that found him stood a great distance from him. The terrifying sight before them forbade them from approaching.

At first, all she could see was a silhouette in the distance. The lights from the aurors that found him didn’t help much from their distance. It wasn’t until she walked past them that the figure before her had some resemblance to Percival. Maybe it was the disturbing image of this man, but a part of her hoped it wasn’t him. She was in such a state of shock as her eyes scanned the man’s ravaged body.

His wrists were bound by large rusty chains, and his feet were nailed to the ground. His clothes were tattered with bloodied rips. It wasn’t until she was a few steps before him that she saw the real damage. That’s when the shock washed through and the tears spilled out. Despite the way his head hung low, she could still see the cuts and dark bruises that covered yellowing bruises that were starting to heal on his body. Most of the blood on his clothes were evidently all dried. There were only a few deep wounds that had fresh blood seeping through.

Her hand trembled as she brought her wand up. When her eyes finally dared to look at his face, she gasped sharply when the light revealed his battered face. His hair and beard has grown out. His gray patches of hair caught light under the moon were an indication of how much time had passed.

“Per…” She could hardly utter his name, the closer she got.

She couldn’t control the shaky breaths that slipped through her parched lips. Despite the chatter from the crowd of aurors behind her, the body before her didn’t move an inch. He showed no indication that he was conscious or alive. She silently pleaded for him to still be alive to whatever god was listening.

“Percival…” She finally managed to say, but only as a whisper.

His head snapped up. The sudden movement caused her to jerk back. Before she could speak, he screamed with such agony and rage, that it scared her into falling back on her ass. His eyes were bloodshot and sunken with prominent dark bags. She held up her wand in defense, causing the other aurors to rush in her defense. But she was quick to regain her senses and stood back up, despite Percival’s screaming.

“It’s me, Percival. You’re safe. We found you.” She said in a calm, but shaky voice.

Her soothing reassurances didn’t work though. It held no effect to ceasing his panic. She didn’t have a choice but render him to sleep. It was the only way she and the other could approach him and help him back to the ministry.

It took months before Percival to recover physically. Mentally, he felt hollow, rarely talking to anyone but the occasional short responses. He refused any psychological help, and any chances of discussing what happened to him. So, he was discharged when he didn’t need any serious medical attention.

She spoke with the ministry and volunteered to take a leave to look after him. She took it upon herself to help him back home, so he was situated. He didn’t talk to her, much less look at her. He avoided stepping out of the house, avoiding any interactions. Nonetheless, she cooked, cleaned and did whatever she could to make his situation somewhat easier.

At the end of the night, she waited till he fell asleep to leave. However, leaving him alone left her very uneasy. She ended up returning home to pack a bag and return to Graves’s residence. She made herself as comfortable as she could on his stiff couch. To be honest, even if the couch wasn’t stiff, she wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway. Percival would wake up every few hours screaming and she would have to soothe him back to sleep.

This went on for a few weeks. If the guilt wasn’t eating her alive, the exhaustion would take a toll on her. Not that she would ever complain. She felt she had no right to complain. Not when the man she cared for was continuously plagued with night terrors.

Percival wasn’t ignorant to the toll it was taking on her. As if he wasn’t tormented enough, he felt pathetic to be in such a vulnerable state after all this time. He was still terrified, but all the more so, he was frustrated with himself. He didn’t understand why she stubbornly stayed. He wondered if she was staying out of pity. Whatever it was, she was the last person he wanted to see him in this state. In attempt to push her away, his self-hatred festered into temper tantrums that he took out on her.

She knocked on the door to his bedroom, before opening it for a slight peek. He sat up against the headboard, staring dully at the wall in front of him.

“Perc, you have to eat something. It’s been a whole day.” She softly said, as she set a bowl of soup on his bedside table.

He ignored her and continued to stare.

“Percival, you can’t starve yourself all day.” She said.

His jaw clenched upon the sound of his full first name. He knew that tactic. He knew she was trying to help, but it only made him feel more pathetic.

She sighed and picked up the bowl. She took a small spoonful of the soup and carefully brought it towards his lips. With a short swipe of his finger, the spoon and bowl of soup flew across the room and the glass shattered against the wall. She flinched from the burst of his temper, but remained calm. His teeth grinded against each other from the tightly clenched jaw, hoping he had succeeded in driving her away. He finally let out the breath he was holding when she left his room. Unfortunately, she came back with towels and new bed sheets moments later.

He gasped by her unexpected returned. His eyes followed her across the room, and watched as she lowered herself onto the floor. His stomach was sick with guilt because he wasn’t going to give up this act.

“GET. OUT.” He barked.

She ignored him and continued to wipe the floors dried.

“GET OUT!” He shouted.

In return, she calmly said, “I just need to clean this up so it doesn’t stain. And I have to change your sheets, they’re dirty.” 

His eyes glared down at her in disbelief. He wondered why she was making it so difficult for him. As if he wasn’t humiliated enough.

A part of him was slightly angry at her. It was no fault of her own. It was the torture inflicted on him. He never spoke to anyone about it, yet Grindelwald was able to snake into his mind and pry out the one secret he wanted to keep buried. His feelings for her. He cursed himself for getting caught. Most of all, he cursed himself for falling for her, because now Grindelwald knew his weakness and he was terrified he would go after her.

As she picked up the broken pieces of glass on the floor, Percival’s mind flickered back to a moment of his captive. Grindelwald’s threats toward her sent him into blind rages. He fought against the chain and shouted profanities, which only earned him bruises around his wrists and deep cuts from a flick of Grindelwald’s wand. It was only when physical torture wasn’t effective that the torture was switched to a mental game. Percival’s eyes were clouded with hallucinations, stories that Grindelwald cooked up with her betraying him and her killing him in the most disturbing ways. The stories would rewind and replay, until it rendered him into a sobbing mess.

He snapped out of that recollection when she tugged at his sheets. He huffed in aggravation and got out of bed. He marched out of his room, leaving her to silently clean up his mess. He walked by the living room, and noticed her belongings sprawled all over the floor. He headed into the kitchen for a glass of water, hoping it would cool him down.

Once she had cleaned up his room, she tossed the dirty sheets in the washer. Unsettled by his outburst, she followed the noises into kitchen and found him gulping down water. She silently stood at the other side of the kitchen, watching him set the empty glass down in the sink. He contemplated what his next words would be. He was conflicted by his feelings. He was grateful by her presence, but also resented the situation they were in. He was on the brink of losing his mind. He kept wanting to tell her to stay, yet the opposite came out.

“Go home.” He said, this time in a much leveled voice.

_Stay with me._

“No.” She replied.

“I’m fine.” He lied, after making eye contact with her for the first time since that night. He was trying so hard to look convincing, but his eyes gave it away. His eyes always gave it away. She could always tell.

_I’m lost inside._

“I’m sure you are.” She said, humoring him.

“Leave me alone.” He said, which was both a truth and lie. He didn’t want her seeing him like this. On the other hand, he was afraid of what would happen if he was alone in his quiet home.

_Don’t leave me._

“I don’t want to.” She replied.

His eyebrows furrowed as his stare hardened. She noticed him swallow hard, a sign of acceptance of a losing fight. No matter what came out of his mouth, deep within his eyes, he screamed for her to not give up on him. It was going to take a lot for her to give up, even if he locked her out.

“You can’t do anything for me.” He grumbled.

_Forgive me. Don’t give up on me._


End file.
